The end of an era

This might be a bit of a long entry. been putting this off for a while.

I've finally given up the waterbed. I've been sleeping on a waterbed since I was a teenager. Loralei's nagging finally got me to cave in, and get a real mattress bed. We did a lot of shopping around at mattress and furniture stores, but finally decided on one from Ikea. it had the best price, the only bedframe we liked, and the mattress was comfy.

My body has really been adjusted to the waterbed, and its doing all kinds of strange un-kinking since I'm lying flat now. I think its good, I'm not really sure. To go along with the bed, I've been trying this software called pzizz. it works suprisingly well. i was skeptical at first, but i think i'm convinced now. its sort of like a dynamic relaxation tape.

which will come in handy when im on the plan to the Dominican Republic. We're finally heading down to the carribean for our honeymoon. I'm in desperate need of a vacation after the last year of work. the wedding this year was also not exactly relaxing, so im definitely due for a break. we found a good deal on a vacation package in Punta Cana at GoTravelDirect. after much research this was the best deal available. we took the 4 star wildcard, which saves a few hundred bucks. just means they get to pick which resort we stay in. since we've never been there, it doesn't really matter much.

Probably going on a few daytrips and things. as much as i like the thought of just sitting there relaxing, my style of travel usually involves me going out and seeing all there is to see. Also a good opportunity to catch up on some DS games, and destroy my liver with copious amounts of rum. I'm trying to listen to a few pimsleur spanish lessons before i get down there so i'm not completely helpless. im sure the resort staff has a good grasp of english, but when we go to santo domingo, odds are there isn't going to be much.

I'm also trying to learn how to draw in autocad. I'm really lost. i have no idea what im doing, so if you have any tutorial links, post them in the comments. the reason im trying to do this is because i want to build my own poker table. drawing up the plans seems like a good first step. autocad will apparently tell me what angles i need to cut things at, spit out a bill of materials, basically everything. as far as building things, i have NO experience whatsoever. i never took shop class in school, so im clueless there too. if i don't lose an appendage cutting wood with a tablesaw i'll be very very lucky. Simon, this guy from work seems to know his way around autocad so I'll hopefully pick some tips up from him.